An unexpected gift
by Magnor
Summary: After an almost disastrous run-in with the Outcasts, Hiccup finds himself changing and doesn't like it at all. Dragon!Hiccup. Possible Hiccstrid.
1. Chapter 1

**AN/** This is my first story and it will be a transformation story where Hiccup gets turned into a dragon. Why am I telling you this? Because I love dragon!Hiccup stories but don't like anthro!Toothless (Where Toothless becomes human) stories, so I want to make it clear for those who have a preference and are not sure which kind this is. I don't have an update schedule but will probably get one if the response to this story is positive enough to inspire me to write more. I hope you will enjoy the first chapter of An unexpected gift.

Dragon speech will be **bold**. Human speech will be normal.

POV´s will be marked with single characters at the beginning of a segment. **H **for Hiccup, **T** for Toothless, **A** for Astrid and **O** for Outcasts. I will probably expand this list in the future.

Let the story begin...

**AN UNEXPECTED GIFT **

**Chapter**** one **

**H**

I woke up like usual, to a dragon stomping on my roof to get me to wake up. I really should invent some kind of device to wake me up in the morning. Perhaps that might be my next project...

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

Oh, right. Almost forgot about that. Time to get dressed.

"Coming Toothless!" I yelled.

After getting dressed, I walked downstairs and out the door to a very excited looking Night Fury.

"Can't I at least get breakfast?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Toothless shook his head.

" As usual then" I muttered to myself.

Those who don't know me, would think I was annoyed. Far from it. There are worse things to do in the morning than to ride the fastest dragon known to man. Still, a spot of breakfast wouldn't hurt though.

I got up on Toothless' saddle, attached my prosthetic to the tail control mechanism and braced myself for Toothless´ preferred way of getting airborne.

It never gets old, flying. The view from half a mile up, the wind in your face, the Outcast warships in the distance... WHAT? Outcasts? I have to tell my dad about this.

"Sorry bud. Looks like this flying trip has to be cut short." Toothless rumbled in an annoyed but strangely understanding manner.

I will always wonder just how intelligent dragons are.

**H**

After about 30 minutes, we found him. He was currently helping Mildew harvest his cabbages. Understandably, he was relieved when he saw his son approaching as it was not entertaining to listen to Mildew nag about how horrible it was to have dragons everywhere all morning.

"Hello son! Wasn't expecting you so early!" my father shouted when we were close enough to hear.

"OUTCASTS! There are outcast ships approaching Berk!" I shouted as loud as I could.

Stoick's expression became stern. Suddenly he wasn't as relieved as before. "How many?" he asked, in a serious tone.

"I counted five warships but I could be mistaken" I replied.

"Hmmm... Not enough for an invasion fleet but still enough to cause some major damage" Stoick mumbled thoughtfully.

"Find the other riders and sink as many ships as you can. But do it carefully, I don't want any accidents."

"Alright dad" I answered before I left to find the other teens, leaving him to ready the defences.

**A**

"Lets try this one more time. Stormfly! Short burst!"

Stormfly didn't completely vaporize the tree this time, but still flamed far too long.

"At least we're getting somewhere" I sighed.

I was trying to teach Stormfly to fire in short bursts to both conserve her fire and to be able to light campfires and such without destroying them. Progress was painfully slow.

"Astrid! There you are! I was looking all over for you!" Hiccup called.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Outcasts, a few hours away. We need to find the others. I'll explain on the way once we have gathered everyone" He replied.

"Outcasts? Don't they know they don't have the strength to take on Berk?"

"It doesn't make sense for me either, but I'd rather not risk it. Maybe they have some sort of secret weapon. Now let's go, we don't have much time."

I nodded. I got on Stormfly and we were back in Berk in no time.

**H**

The twins weren't hard to find. They were busy wreaking havoc, as always. You just needed to follow the sounds of the explosions. Snotlout was also easy to find. In fact, he found us. He started to try and impress Astrid but once he heard what the situation was, he stopped. I will never fathom how he became so deaf to her many rejections. Fishlegs was at his house, correcting inaccuracies in the dragon manual. Once everyone was gathered, I explained the situation to everyone. I also had to explain to the twins why the Outcasts coming here to wreak havoc was a bad thing. With that done, we headed to the Outcast warships.

**One hour later **

"There they are!" Astrid shouted.

I couldn't see the Outcasts, but then again my, vision wasn't very good. After a while, I saw them too. They were in a triangular formation with two ships in front and three behind.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do; I attack them first to disorient them, then Snotlaut, Fishlegs and Astrid, who shall known as group two, come in and deal as much damage as possible. Lastly, Ruff and Tuff pass over the ships spraying explosive gas over them and light it when they've reached the end of the formation. After that we regroup here to go over the next attack. Any questions?"

There were none.

"Let's do this then"

As I dive bombed them and heard the the trademark screeching of Toothless I could hear "Night Fury, get down!" from the Outcasts just before toothless shot a powerful fireball at the nearest ship. Shortly thereafter, it sank.

"Group two, attack!" I shouted and watched as a nadder, a nightmare and a gronkle managed to sink one more ship.

"two down, three to go" I thought to myself.

"Twins, go do some damage!"

The hideous zippleback lit the other three ships on fire. As they were returning I could see two Berkian vessels in the distance. Apparently my father wanted a piece of the action.

When Ruffnut and Tuffnut rejoined the group and Snotlout was finished boasting, I walked them through wave two.

"Good job, all of you. I think my father will want someone to interrogate, so let's leave one ship floating. This time group two will attack first, then me and then the twins. I will attack the one on the right, Astrid, Snoutlaut and Fishlegs will attack the left one, and the twins will weaken the middle one, hopefully slowing it down so my father can catch it. And as before, we regroup after the attack. Got it?"

**O**

"Good, they're taking the bait" Savage said. He had thought Alvin had finally lost it when he conceived of this plan, but did it anyways. Drowning due to failing the mission was far better than disobeying a direct order from Alvin. Amazingly, his mad plan seemed to be working.

"The dragon riders are attacking again!" an Outcast sailor shouted.

"Which ones?" I asked.

"The nadder, the gronkle and the nightmare. Shall I give the order to use the weapon?"

"No, they're not the ones we want"

"But sir, they're almost upon us!" he cried out.

"When I say no it means no. Got it?!" I shouted.

Just then, they attacked the ship to the right of us. It didn't stand a chance.

Shortly thereafter, we heard a screech as if something was ripping the air apart.

"Ready the weapon" I said.

At my command, all the Outcasts who were still standing immidietly dropped whatever they were holding and drew a bow. The weapon wasn't a real weapon, but rather a way to take down a dragon by shooting as many arrows at it as possible. No matter how quick or agile it was, some of them were guaranteed to hit it. At least in theory. We had never had a chance to test it.

"Draw!" I shouted.

When the Night Fury was suitably close, I gave the order to fire,

"Fire!" Immidietly, dozens of arrows were released. The Night Fury fired on the ship left of us, and then pulled up straight after. But it was too late. As the arrows neared it, it seemed like it was impossible for the beast to dodge them all. Amazingly though, it seemed like it was going to do it. When the time came, it looked like it just missed the closest arrow.

"Curses! We were this close to bringing down our greatest threat! Why do the gods keep frowning upon the Outcasts?! Why?!"

**H **

That was a close one, I thought as I flew to the other teens. The twins had changed their mind about attacking when they saw the Outcasts almost take down a Night Fury. Good thing too.

"Even though they almost got me, we still succeeded for the most part. I think we should call it a day and let dad take care of the rest. We also need to come up with a counter to their bow strategy."

Astrid, Snotlaut, Fishlegs and the twins were visibly relieved. Soon after, we were heading back to Berk.

**A little under an hour later **

"Did you see how I tore that mast apart?" Snotlaut asked.

"For the hundredth time, we saw it! Yes, it was pretty awesome and no, it does not make you Thor's chosen champion!" I retorted.

Why did the guy with the biggest ego have to get the biggest dragon? I almost wish he would have gotten a terror just to shut him up. It would be pretty funny to replace Hookfang with a red terrible terror during the night and see how he would react...

Just then, Toothless turned to the left hard.

"Toothless what are you doing?!"

He made a sound that basically said: "Me? You control my tailfin. What are YOU doing?"

It was then that I looked back and saw that half of the artificial talfin was torn and that the tear was becoming bigger at an alarming rate. Clearly at least one arrow had hit and punctured the fin, making a small hole which expanded from the stresses of flight. Why didn't I check for damage after the encounter with the Outcasts? Too late now, I had to land in a hurry or I'd fall out of the sky. Problem was, I couldn't find any land.

"Guys the tailfin is damaged! I have find land soon!"

"There! I can see Berk! It's not too far, you can make it!"

At that, Toothless accelerated, soon leaving the others behind. After a few minutes, I could see Berk too. We really had a chance! Just a little bit further.

Once we reached Berk's shore, the tailfin gave out.

"NO NO NO! We were so close!" I shouted as we span out of control, a bit higher up than I wanted. Well, a bit being a few hundred meters. For some reason, the clip attaching me to Toothless also malfunctioned. I managed to hold on for a while trying and failing to stabilize Toothless. After some time, I fell off. Now I was truly helpless. It didn't look like there was anything I could do and the ground was approaching fast.

**T **

For reasons unknown to me, the tailfin Hiccup gave me stopped working and I spiralled out of control. I could tell Hiccup was trying everything to get it to work, even going so far as to go on my tail and manually adjusting it. I was trying my best too, but Night Furies are not designed to fly with a tailfin missing. When he fell off, I knew he couldn't get on my back in time. And even if he managed it, what could he do that he hadn't already tried? No, the only possibility now was to survive the inevitable crash landing. I knew I could do it, all dragons were designed to. I had done it a few time before. Hiccup, not so much. I would have to shield him like in the battle against the red death.

I tried to grab him by folding my wings around him or grabbing him with a claw. Nothing worked, I was spinning too fast. Only one possibility remained. A last resort that I really didn't want to try. But it was either that or Hiccup dying. An easy choice.

"Toothless, unless you've got something up your sleeve, this is the end. I'm so sorry. If I die, I want you to get Gobber to fix the automatic tailfin. I don't want you to stay grounded forever because of me."

As a matter of fact, I did have something up my sleeve. The ground was almost upon us, maybe ten seconds to impact. It was now or never.

I positioned myself in the air so I was facing him, and with a swiftness that my talons or wings simply didn't have, I bit him and didn't let go. I could taste his blood in my mouth and for the first time in my life, I was disgusted by the blood of another creature in my mouth. He began to scream from the pain. Oh gods I'm so sorry Hiccup, but this is for your own good.

I folded my wings around him and braced for impact. I could feel my paralysing venom going into his body. I hope it wasn't lethal to humans. It was designed to paralyse, not kill, but my prey never lived long enough for me test that.

It was then I hit the ground, and everything went black.

**AN/ **So how did you like it? I would love to get some reviews answering this question. Feel free to pm me or write a review with your ideas about the story or pretty much anything.


	2. Chapter 2

**/AN **First off, thank you all for those reviews. I wanted to reply to them, but all I could think of was "Thank you for reviewing my story" which sounded mechanical and boring. But if you have something interesting to say, or have an idea for the story, or have a question in you review, I will answer it.

P.O.V's

**A **= Astrid

**T **= Toothless

**S **= Stoick

**G **= Gothi

**AN UNEXPECTED GIFT **

Chapter two

**A **

As soon as I said that I saw Berk, Toothless was off. We tried to keep up, but I knew that even if I left everyone to go to full speed, I still couldn't do it. Toothless was a Night Fury after all. So the best we could do was go as fast as possible (Which wasn't very fast since we had a gronkle in our group) and hope we wouldn't fall too far behind. Besides, it wasn't very important. We weren't goind to lose sight of him since he was just going to Berk. In fact, he was almost there. Looks like he was going to make it. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Guys, is it just me or has Hiccup lost control?" Fishlegs asked.

"Lost control? This is Hiccup we're talking about!" Snotlaut said, without even looking in the direction of him. I looked. Either he was doing some crazy aerial stunt, or Fishlegs was right.

"I think Fishlegs is right. His tailfin is damaged, remember? We have to get over there!" I shouted as I urged Stormfly to go faster. As I raced towards him, I saw that he had indeed lost control. A feeling of dread creapt over me as I involunterely imagined what could happen in the next few minutes. Very few of those scenarios had a happy end.

"What am I thinking? This is Hiccup, he's bound to get through this one, right?" I half pleaded to myself.

It was at that moment Hiccup fell off Toothless.

"no..." I said, not believing my eyes as I tried to get Stormfly to go faster. She was flapping like her life depended on it and could not possibly be any quicker than she already was.

Five more seconds of pure disbelief passed and it became obvious that we would not get to them before they hit the ground. Me and Stormfly were still trying our hardest though.

Then I saw that Toothless bit Hiccup, drew him in, and they hit the ground together. My world shattered.

"NOOOOO!" I shouted as my mind frantically clung to any shred of hope there was left.

Toothless will protect him, like in the battle against the Red Death. Hiccup will survive the the fall. I'll take him to Gothi, and he will recover and we'll laugh at this afterwards. That's what will happen. That's what must happen.

Eventually I reached the crash site. I could see that that Toothless was knocked out, but I couldn't see any injuries except that a buunch of scales had been scraped off. I opened one of his wings, and then the other and there Hiccup lay. He was a mess, but breathing. That meant he was alive. Thank Odin.

I managed to haul him back to Stormfly as gently as I could. By then most of the Teens arrived and started asking questions. Hiccup didn't have time for questions.

"Take care of Toothless and tell the townspeople what has happened. I'll bring Hiccup to Gothi." After that I put him on Stormfly as carefully as I could and flew to the town. I went straight to Gothi's house.

Gothi was mixing some herbs when I arrived but stopped when she saw what the situasion was. She told me to lay him on the table and started to undress him.

"Should I go or something?" I asked. She nodded.

**T **

My head hurt. My wings hurt. Everything hurt. Where was I? Let me see.. morning flight, Outcasts, gathering teens, Outcasts, flying back, blank, lying in a crater with a big headache. What happened? Where's Hiccup? Is he even alive?

Then I remembered. I had to get to him. He was probably somewhere in the village.

I got up, felt an immense pain in my right wing, and lay down again.

"Great, my wing is broken. Just fantastic." I said to myself. A habit I got from Hiccup.

Slowly, hesitantly, I rose up, careful not to put pressure on my wing.

"So far so good" I mumbled.

I looked around and saw Fishlegs approaching me. Maybe he could tell me where Hiccup was.

"You're awake I see. Thats good I suppose. I think you'd be happy to know Hiccup is alive and well. Ok, not that well but he should live."

I relaxed considerably at this. Hiccup would live, and that was all that mattered. I still wanted to know where he was though.

"Where is Hiccup?" I knew he couldn't understand me but hopefully he would get the idea.

"Ummm Hiccup is in Stoick's house, resting if thats what you wanted to know" Fishlegs said, hesitantly.

I had suspected that he would be there, but I wanted to make sure. I wasted no time going there. It took me longer than usual because without Hiccup I can't fly and I couldn't really run without hurting my wing.

After some time I had arrived. Gothi was still tending to him and he was heavily bandaged. Obviously he hadnt woken up yet. I went to his side and lay down. Soon, sleep took me.

**S **

We managed to catch up to the Outcast ship and capture it. Hiccup must have known I was coming so he saved a ship for me. We hadn't really interrogated them, that would happen on Berk where I would have to formally thank my son and his friends for their service to Berk, again. Not that I minded. It was great that my son wasn't so useless anymore.

"We're approaching Berk, only an hour or so left!" a sailor shouted.

**One hour later **

I leapt onto the harbor of Berk and prepared myself for all the chiefly duties I would have to attaend to concerning the prisoners. That is, until I heard the bad news.

"Stoick! I have some bad news for you." Gobber said.

"What bad news? Did the twins set fire to another builing?" I asked.

"It's about Hiccup"

I suddenly became very worried. "What happened?"

"He was coming back from the Oucasts when Toothless' tail failed. He survived the crash landing thanks to Toothless but is in bad shape and hasn't awoken yet." he replied.

"Where is he now?" I asked.

"He's resting at your house. Toothless is with him of course."

That was all I needed. I almost ran to my house.

When I arrived I saw a sight no father should see. Hiccup was so heavely bandaged that I could hardly recognize him. Astrid was also there, holding his hand. She'd never tell him, or anyone of course. She let go imimdietly when she saw me enter.

"Chief Stoick. There was nothing I could do I swea-"

"I know there was nothing you could do. If there was he'd be standing here with us. Now tell me, what happened?" I asked as gently as I could. She'd been through alot today. Even the mighty Astrid had her limits. Nearly losing Hiccup was one of them.

"We attacked them the first time and everything went smoothly. They almost got Hiccup the second time around with some sort of bow trick we'd never seen before. When we were almost home, Hiccup said somehing about his tailfin being damaged and needing to land. I told him Berk wasn't far and off he went. When he was almost there he lost conrol. I tried to get to him but he was too far away. After that I carried him to Gothi who tended to him and brought him here to rest. Thats pretty much it."

"I see. Despite all this I have duties to attend to. Inform me of any developements" I said.

**G **

When I was examining Hiccup I noticed something stange. There were small, hard, black things that looked like scales in the bite wounds. Probably some of Toothless' scales had found their way down there in the crash. Or maybe it was Hiccup's flesh reacting to the Night Fury venom. I once read about Night Fury venom. It has remarkable properties.

The next day I saw that the things had increased in number and were becoming bigger. Hiccup was also healing very quickly. A little too quickly. Something suspicious was going on here. I had some ideas of what was going on but I needed more solid proof.

I checked on the "scales" the day after that and found that they had yet again grown. It also looked like they were spreading to the other wounds. Hiccup's astonishing rate of healing contioued. Magic was at work here, I was sure of it.

Later that day I went to my personal library and found a book called "The magic of Dragons" and turned to the page on Night Furies. Well, pages on Night Furies. The author had a lot to say about them. I found the article on their venom.

´Night Fury venom is unique in that it's effect is dependent on the Night Furie's will. That is to say that when hunting, it paralyzes It's prey. When defending or attacking, it causes an intense pain that distracts the enemy. When flaming, it binds the flammable material so that it only explodes on impact. And lastly, if used on someone without offensive intent, various things may occur. From getting a headache, through getting healing powers, to transforming into a Night Fury. The transformation only occurs if the Fury and the bitten share an intense bond. Be it love, friendship or something else. The full list of effects is as folllows:...´

I stopped reading. I had my answer. Breaking this to Stoick and Hiccup would be hard and I don't know how they will react. There's still a chance that this is not what is happening, so I won't tell them unless I'm absolutely sure.

**S **

I checked on Hiccup as much as I could the last few days. Gothi said he was getting better with remarkable speed, but I was still worried. What if something happened? I knew my concerns were unfounded but I was still scared.

Gothi had had this thoughtful look on her face for the last three days or so, but I paid her no mind. What was I to know what lay in her head?

I was helping a few fishermen down by the docks when it happened.

"Hiccup is awake, chief Stoick!"

**/AN **as always, feel free to leave a review.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN/ **Sorry for the extremely late chapter. You have three things to blame: A week long vacation I took right before school starts, school starting, and my own lazy, procrastinating nature. Your reviews have been great and I would love to get more. You've waited far too long, so on with the story...

**An Unexpected Gift **

Chapter 3

**H **

I found myself in my bed with no recollection of how I got there. Or why there were so many people in my room. Toothless was here, which was pretty normal, Gothi was also here along with Astrid, Fishlegs, Dad, Gobber and a few random villagers. That's when I started paying attention to what everyone was saying.

"He's alive, thank Odin!"

"Didn't Gothi say he would wake up after a week?"

"Don't ever do that to me again!"

"Does that mean classes will continue?"

"ENOUGH! My son just woke up after crashing and breaking every bone in his body so for Thor's sake let him rest!"

The conversation stopped immediately. Crashing? Breaking every bone in my body? Did that really happen? I feel fine.

Thats when I remembered what they were talking about. Did Toothless really bite me? I suppose it was a last resort but couldn't he just use his gums? Well, there was a small chance I might have slipped out of his mouth and I suppose he wanted to make sure that didn't happen.

"Son, how are you feeling? You woke up a bit earlier than expected."

"I feel... fine. There's some discomfort here and there but overall I'm good."

"That's good. Really good. Recovering this fast from this kind of injury is unheard of though. Perhaps a gift from the gods themselves? Tell me, did you have some strange dreams, perhaps involving a muscular man with a hammer? Or a bearded one eyed guy with two ravens on his shoulders?"

"No, not that I remember anyway."

"Well that's a shame. Now rest, we'll talk in the morning"

"Bye dad. Good talk"

"Good talk son"

**S**

Later that day, when my chiefly duties were finished for the day, I was approached by Gothi in my home. Hiccup was asleep upstairs.

"Come to check on Hiccup again?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"So you came to talk with me then"

She nodded.

"Gobber made me learn your sign language, so I will understand your writing. For them most part." I said. It was a tedious process to learn it but a chief had to be able to understand the elder without a translator.

"I came here to talk about your son" she wrote.

"Have you found out why he healed so quickly?"

"Yes, although you won't like the reason."

"I still want to know, wether I will like it or not is not important"

"You may want to sit down for this"

"Fine, but once I do I want some straight answers, no more beating around the bush."

I sat down.

"Your son is turning into a dragon."

I stared at the text, trying to find where I had misread it. It had been some time since he taught me, surely I must be getting rusty. Failing to find my error, I said:

"I must be losing my sight, surely you didn't say Hiccup was transforming into a dragon."

She nodded.

It took me a while to process this. My son, Hiccup, turning into a dragon? How was such a thing possible? Surely Gothi must have made a mistake, perhaps her old age was getting to her.

"How do you know?"

"There were scales growing in Hiccup's bite wounds. One of my old books speaks of this kind of thing. There can be no mistake, Hiccup is turning into a dragon. More specifically, a Night Fury."

"How did this happen?" I was on the verge of shouting now.

"How did what happen? Hiccup asked from the stairs. He must have woken up and heard me speaking to myself, since he couldn't hear Gothi.

"You may not want to hear this Hiccup. Wait until morning." I replied.

"If it's so important, I want to know now."

I sighed.

"Very well son, but sit down first because this will be shocking for you." I warned, almost hoping he would back out. I wanted to postpone telling him this as long as possible.

He sat down.

"Son, I know you hate it when people don't give straight answers or speak in riddles so I will be blunt with you, according to Gothi, you're turning into a dragon."

**T **

Hiccup was very restless that night, I had no idea why. Once he finally fell asleep, he tossed and turned all night. I wanted to know why, for obvious reasons. If I knew what was bothering him, maybe I could help. I opened my eyes and noticed that Hiccup was already awake but in his bed and staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. Maybe it had to do with last night.

"Good morning, Hiccup" I rumbled. I knew he couldn't understand me but I spoke to him anyway, like he does to me, except he doesn't know I understand most of what he says. The reason being that human speech can be learned by all dragons, but dragon speech requires better ears and is instinctive so it doesn't need to be learned.

"Good morning dad, did I oversleep or something?" he replied, before realising no one was here but me and him. I was stunned. Did he really just understand me, or was he just so sleepy he mistook my rumble for his sire? The latter was more likely, but I wanted to be sure.

"Must be imagining things." Hiccup said with a shrug and lay down again.

Maybe he was, but I wanted to check.

"Can you understand me?" I said as slowly and coherently as I could.

Hiccup shot up and looked around the room.

"Is someone playing a prank on me? Is Ruffnut hiding under the bed, trying not laugh? Ha ha, very funny guys, you can come out now."

Clearly Hiccup hadn't yet considered the impossible. Well, seemingly impossible. Time to give him a little nudge in the right direction.

"This is no prank, Hiccup."

Since Hiccup was sitting up at this point, he had a better sense of where my voice was coming from.

"Toothless, did you really.. No, this must be a continution of the prank, making me think Toothless is talking to me. You must be hiding behing him or under one of his wings, he's probably in on it too. It's not very nice to do that to a person recovering from a major injury, you know."

Still convinced that this is a prank. I think it's best to prove him wrong. I rose up, and moved to another spot in the room, proving no one was behind me, holding my wings up to show no one was under it.

"This is no prank, as I said before. I don't know how it happened, but I think you somehow gained the ability to understand me. If you can undertand me, and this is not just a figment of your imagination, say "I understand you, Toothless"." I said. I hoped this would conclusively prove whether he could understand me or not.

There was a long silence, well over a minute long.

"I... understand you... Toothless" he said hesitantly.

So he could understand me. I could feel excitement bubbling up. Finally a way to communicate with my rider, my best friend! I couldn't contain myself.

"Really?! You can understand me? This is great! There are so many things to say! So many questions!" I roared. I was jumping up and down now.

"By Thor, you're right! What's your real name? Do you really only eat fish? Have you ever met another Night Fury, other than your parents? Have you even met them, or do Night Furies leave their young to fend for themselves?" Hiccup asked, now out of the bed.

"Let me see, Martröð, but I prefer Toothless, no, but I prefer fish, yes, once and of course I've met them."

"Martröð? Does that mean anything or is it just a name?"

"Actually it means "Nightmare". The idea was that I'd be like a nightmare to my enemies. Night Furies weren't the most peaceful dragons"

"Until recently, you were a nightmare to my tribe. Did you know they thought you were the offspring of lightning and death itself?"

"No, although it strangely reflects an old origin story for my kind. Now, to change the subject, do you have any idea why you can suddenly understand me?"

Hiccup suddenly lost his excitement and sat down on the bed again with a sad expression on his face.

"Apparently I'm turning into a dragon. This must be one of the early effects."

"WHAT? How?"

"It had something to do with you biting me in order to save me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry with you or anything, It's just a lot to deal with."

"I knew I should have retracted my teeth, but then you might have slipped, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself then. Still, maybe it won't be so bad being a dragon. Do you know what species you will turn into?"

"Night Fury. But I will be leaving so much behind! I won't be able to work a forge, I won't be able to draw and I won't be able to ride you, leaving you grounded!"

"Didn't you give me an automatic tail last winter?"

"Yes, but you smashed that thing to bits and I don't know if I have enough time left as a human to repair it."

"You could get Gobber to do it for you."

"He can make good weapons and armor, but fine mechanism aren't his strong suit. If it were he could have understood the war machines I made to prove myself and made them en masse to win the dragon war."

"What war machines?"

"Most of them failed but the last one managed to shoot you down, so imagine what a hundred of them could do. Sorry, again, by the way"

"Wait, you did that?"

"You didn't know? Before you get angry, I had no idea how dragons really were at the time- how you were- if I did I would never have tried to shoot you down."

"Well, I suppose I can't blame you. Good came of it and it brought our two worlds together. I think a tailfin is worth that."

"Thank you Toothless. Thank you for understanding. Now I'm off to the forge. I don't know how fast my transformation will be, so I want to get to work as soon as possible."

And with that, he got his prosthetic and went downstairs, leaving me to ponder on what just happened. Usually, I would have followed him, but I could tell he needed time by himself to think.

**AN/** "Martöð" is icelandic for "Nightmare". Since I'm an icelander I got my work cut out for me if I want to make nordic names for things. For those you don't know, Iceland is a Nordic country to the southeast of Greenland. For those who don't know where Greenland is, look for the big white thing in the northen Atlantic ocean.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN/ **This chapter took a bit longer than expected and I will try to get the next one ready in a week. Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting and following my story. And thank you toothlessgolfer for beta reading this story.

**An Unexpected Gift **

**Chapter four **

**T **

Yesterday Hiccup worked on my tail fin all day, despite the protests of his sire. I arrived around noon and we talked all day about various subjects. Who knew you could store words for later use using "writing"? Hiccup asked me too many questions to count about dragons in general. I asked numerous questions about humans too, but not nearly as many as my rider. I was very annoyed when I found out most people think of me as a "pet" rather than as Hiccup's friend and equal. Sure, before the end of the war dragons didn't really think humans were more than mere beasts, but now we know better, and the humans do not. Although they've made remarkable progress in the right direction, they need one final push. I'll have to talk to Hiccup about that when he wakes up. That session really drained him. He was starting to smell strange too, no doubt a part of the transformation. I wonder what will change next. Things will get interesting when he gets wings. I'll have to teach him to fly, which is a strange and ironical thought. I wonder how the villagers will react when they inevitably find out. Not well, I expect. That Mildew person will use this as another excuse to get my kind off the island and probably restart the war if he can get away with it.

It was then that Hiccup woke and broke my train of thought.

"Morning, or should I say "Noon"?" I said. He had been up late last night. At least he managed to finish the most complicated part of the mechanism. So if he became unable to finish it, Gobber could do it for him.

"Good morning you talking reptile." Hiccup said while getting out of bed.

"Any changes?" I asked with a bit more excitement than was proper considering the seriousness of the situation. I couldn't help feeling excited about him turning into one of my kind.

"Unfortunately, yes. The scales almost completely cover the bite wounds and I feel a small pain on two spots near my shoulder blades, no doubt thats where my wings will come out. There are scales forming on my stump as well. I don't think my father will be able to keep my secret for much longer." He almost sighed.

"Cheer up! Aren't you the least bit excited about flying and shooting plasma bolts?" I asked excitedly. I can't quite put my claw on it but for some reason this was making me more excited than it should be.

"It's the lack of opposable thumbs and probably being forced to leave Berk that I'm worried about." He said as he sat down on the bed in exasperation. "Don't you understand what this means for me? All my plans are pretty well ruined. How am I supposed to convince other tribes dragons aren't evil when in their eyes I'm just a trophy waiting to happen? How am I supposed make all my ideas for saddle, tail fin and weapon designs, like a flaming sword that uses zippleback gas, reality? How am I going to hang out with Astrid without it being super weird? How would you feel if you found out you were slowly turning human?" He was on the brink of tears now.

I shut up after that. So that explained he had been so sad these past days. He didn't openly express it, until now, but in hindsight, it was obvious from the shadows under his eyes and the lack of muttering to himself as he worked on my tail fin. He was on the brink of depression; a state of mind that I don't want my companion to be in. I needed to intervene, but how? The obvious answer was to get him to accept his transformation, but in what way? In his mind, the cons were so great he completely forgot about the pros. That meant all I have to do is show him that what he will gain outweighs what he will lose. But how do I do that? I can't just list them off, he needed to see them with his own eyes. Seeing is believing, after all. I could take him flying. He would cheer up immediately and if I do it right, he'll see that once the transformation is complete, he can fly by himself. I may shoot- or more accurately, obliterate- some trees as well, showing him the power of a Night Fury.

I really hope this will work.

**H **

After my outburst, Toothless was silent. I guess that means I got my point across.

As I got dressed, I couldn't help wondering how it would feel to fly under my own power. Maybe I was being a bit too pessimistic about this. But then again, I would probably have to leave Berk. I doubt the villagers had gotten comfortable enough with dragons to accept the chief's son as one. Even if they did accept me, Mildew would change their minds. One of his few skills is his ability to raise a mob against dragons and anything unnatural.

Then Toothless interrupted my train of thought.

"Let's go flying, It'll take your mind off things."

"No, I want to think about things" I replied, pushing his head away.

Then he tilted his head, lowered his wings and ear flaps and widened his eyes. He was unbearably cute when he was like this.

"I can't say no to you can I? Very well." I said. It was almost magical how much power he had over me. Will I have this power over people when I turn into one?

Having gotten the flight gear, he gave me a nudge which interrupted my train of thought again.

Having saddled him up I asked: "Is it comfortable enough? Too tight? Too loose?"

"It's fine, as always." He said in a dismissive tone. Clearly he was looking forward to this flight.

I climbed onto his saddle and braced myself for takeoff. He extended his wings and prepared for launching himself into the sky. And with a huge leap in conjunction with a mighty flap, we were airborne. He climbed high into the sky and leveled off.

"Ready?" He asked. The question was unnecessary but I answered him anyway.

"Ready as always!" I shouted. On my cue, we dived. It's well known that nothing can match a Night Fury in speed, and that's never truer than in a dive. Within seconds we reached an unimaginable speed and the ground was hurtling towards us. I could hear the once feared whistling of Toothless's wings becoming louder as our speed increased. When we pulled up, with just seconds to spare, the whistling had become near unbearable.

"This is amazing! I wish I could live up here!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

We were around a hundred meters from the ground but it was still zooming past too fast to make out any details. And by details I mean individual trees and such. Houses were a strain to pick out.

"I wish I could do this any time I want." I said as we slowed enough to hear each other.

"When you transform into a dragon, you can. You've been focusing so much on what you'd lose that you didn't even think about what you'd gain!" He replied. He did have a point. Was I being too negative? Only one way to find out.

**H **

When I retired to my bed that night I noticed two little bulges where I was sore that morning. My teeth had also become sharper and a few hairs fell out. The scales had also continued their campaign to take over my skin and were spreading out of the wounds, which had healed and were completely covered in the black things. Soon my secret would be secret no longer.

After the flight I went straight to the forge to work on the fin as I asked Toothless many questions about how it was to be a Night Fury. The fin was almost complete and would require only one more session. I intended to speak to my father about how to tell the villagers of my transformation in the morning. It is obvious that it's better to tell them rather than let them find out on their own.

"Good night Hiccup." Toothless said as he curled up on his stone slab and went to sleep.

"Good night." I replied. Before long I would have to get a slab, if I was lucky.

And with that thought I went to sleep.

**S **

"Good morning dad!"

"Good morning son!" I replied. I was already up and eating breakfast.

"I've got something to talk about. It concerns my transformation." He said.

My brow furrowed. Finally after all this time my son was important to the village. We finally could talk about things without it getting awkward. Everything was going right and then this happened. Loki must be laughing up in Valhalla right now.

"What is it son?"

"How are we going to tell the villagers about my transformation? We can't keep it a secret much longer and letting them discover it by themselves could prove disastrous." Hiccup said.

"I know son, I know. I've thought about it myself and have come to the conclusion that it would be best to tell all of them at once and set the record straight with everyone to avoid nasty rumors. They will spread anyway of course but if everyone knows the facts then they'll do much less harm than if they were fueled by ignorance. I suggest we have a mandatory meeting this evening. How are the symptoms by the way?"

He sighed at this question.

"Concealable at the moment but will be hard to hide after a few days."

"Good. I'll get the word out about the meeting. Will you make the announcement?" I asked.

"It would be better if you did that. You're a better speaker and I'm sure you can say it in a much less upsetting way than I can." Hiccup replied. It was true. It would be better if I did the talking.

"Very well. See you this evening then." I said.

And with that I left him to eat his own breakfast. I needed to get the word out to every last villager if at all possible.

**T **

After breakfast Hiccup went back to the forge as usual. He seemed to be worried.

"What's worrying you? Does it have something to do with the transformation?" I asked as he hammered a piece of metal into shape.

"Dad's going to make the announcement today that I'm turning into a dragon. I'm worried about how they will react." He answered.

So that was the reason.

"I think it may be wise to have everything ready for a quick escape if things go out of hand." I said.

"Why do you think I'm working so hard on the fin?" He said as he sped up his work.

"Why?" I asked.

"The question was rhetorical. Yes I'm working extra hard just in case the entire village turns against me." I didn't know what a "rhetorical" question was, but he gave me my answer anyway so it didn't really matter.

**H **

It was evening and I was in the great hall. Everyone was gathered and dad was about to make the announcement that could either go wrong or extremely wrong. The anticipation was killing me.

"Citizens of Berk! I have an announcement to make! It will come as a shock to all of you and I don't blame you. Before I let you know what it is, I ask you in advance to act calmly and not to jump to any conclusions. For magical reasons that are unknown to us, my son is slowly turning into a dragon!"

The silence that followed was deafening.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN/** Ok, first of all, sorry for taking way too much time to finish this one. Procrastination got me hard. Hopefully I'll be faster to update in the future.

**EDIT:** Because my Beta had to go on a work trip, this chapter was posted without being edited by him. Now it has been and the only changes besides grammar corrections are Gothi's writing being cruder (She writes with pictures, after all) and Astrid saying a bit more at the end of the first part.

**An Unexpected Gift **

**Chapter five **

**H **

Absolute silence filled the room. Well, at least it's not a mob, I thought. Not yet anyway, but it's just a matter of time before Mildew says something. And right on cue, he did.

"Look at what siding with the dragons has brought us! This is undoubtedly a message from the gods, and the message is clear! If we don't banish the dragons from our village immediately, what then? Will more people end up transforming until Berk is populated solely by dragons?! Any of us could be next! You might wake up one day with a pair of wings and a tail and then you'll be sorry you ever sided with these beasts!" Mildew boomed taking advantage of the silence. The townspeople were mumbling among themselves now, he had them in his grip.

"What proof do you have Mildew? That this has happened to him does not mean that it will happen to anyone else! And if it's a sign from the gods, how can you be sure it means what you think it means? The gods communicate with us in indirect and mysterious ways and those ways are often misunderstood. The dragons have brought us nothing but good fortune since we made peace with them and I'll not let you destroy that because of a misunderstood message that might not even be a message at all!" Stoick was on the verge of losing it, if he hadn't already lost it. I could tell he was taking this hard and had only acted calm for my sake.

Mildew looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind. The man had enough common sense not to push his furious chief even further. He wasn't going to drop this, but decided it would be wiser to wait.

"Is there anything we can do to stop it?" A carpenter named Ragnar asked. Ragnar was a big man who was unusually mild for a Viking. That's why he became a carpenter and not a dragon slayer.

"Unfortunately not. Gothi says it's irreversible unless you have very powerful magic at your disposal."

"Do we know of any magic we could use to accomplish this?" A woman called Gerdur asked. Gerdur was a seamstress but was rumored to be very good with a blade.

"Not that we know of. Gothi did some research but anything she found was either false or unreachable." That got my attention. Maybe some of the "unreachable" things could maybe be reached by a dragon. I'll have to ask her about that.

"Well, how do we move forward? We're obviously not going to banish him, but what role can he play in the village now?" Someone from the crowd asked. I couldn't see him and couldn't figure out who it was from the sound of his voice.

"I think I should continue training dragons and helping out with dragon related stuff, like I've always done. I can write on the ground to communicate and I can talk to dragons. Think of the possibilities! This could end up being a good thing for the village as a whole." After talking to Toothless I had some interesting ideas concerning dragons. Like building a type of barn for dragons who didn't want to sleep out in the open. Of course we weren't going to call it a barn because then no dragon who heard what it was called would step foot in it. Turns out dragon were very prideful creatures, especially the Nadders and Night Furies.

"Ok. One more question: how did this happen?" The same voice asked. This silenced the room of most of the chatter.

"When Toothless protected me from the worst of the crash he accidentally bit me." I said. It must have been accidental or at least necessary, otherwise he wouldn't have done it.

"Any more questions?" My father asked, his voice booming. There were none.

As the villagers made their way out of the hall, I was approached by Astrid. Oh boy. I had been avoiding her recently fearing she might find out about my secret. She was probably very angry about that. I braced myself both mentally and physically for the onslaught.

"So that's why you were avoiding me. How dare you hide something like this from me?! I mean, couldn't you spare five minutes to tell me before you told the rest of the village? Do you have any idea how huge this is?!" She shouted angrily. We were getting looks from the villagers now.

"Bu.. but I was waiting for the right time to..." I said until I was interrupted by Astrid punching me.

"Ow!" She really doesn't joke around with her punches.. That hurt.

"That was for keeping the truth from me." She said in that tone she always used when she did this.

Then she kissed me, like usual. I still haven't gotten used to that, and probably never will, in a good way.

"And that was for everything else" She finished.

Neither of us spoke for a few seconds. The Vikings had all gone away now to mind their own business.

"So, I think you owe me an explanation. And tell me everything or you'll have to find yourself a dragon girlfriend by the time this is over. "

**G **

Someone knocked at my door. I had my suspicions about who it was. I opened it.

"Good evening elder. May I come in?" Hiccup asked politely. He was probably the only Viking on this island with any manners.

"Yes. What you want?" I wrote.

As he came in he asked his question.

"You said there wasn't any magic within our reach that could reverse my transformation. Does that mean there is magic out of our reach you know of that can accomplish this?" I had expected this question, so I had my answer ready.

"The only thing I found is dragon called 'Bewilderbeast'. The book says that they have most powerful magic of any dragon and can use it at will, unlike Toothless. Problem is they almost extinct and I have no idea where one is." I said. That information actually came from the same book as the stuff on Night Furies. I could tell he was thinking about what I said. Could he actually find one? Wouldn't be surprising if he could. I hoped he would find one, otherwise the situation might become... difficult here on Berk. The people were still digesting the latest news and when the wrong people got their minds around what happened, they might draw the wrong conclusions. The kind that could turn a village in on itself, and then who knows what might happen?

"So you're absolutely 100% sure that you have no idea how to find one? Not even the tiniest idea?" Hiccup asked.

"No, but I keep reading. I let you know if I find anything. The only thing I tell you is they make their nests out of ice, and their nests can house two thousand dragons, but usually about 750 dragons. The book could be wrong, but this is only information I can give you." That came from that book too. I wonder who wrote it and how he found those things out.

"I see..." There was that thinking expression again. He was going to find one, I could feel it in my bones.

**T **

I was waiting outside the house of the woman Hiccup wanted so desperately to meet. Apparently she was very wise and old even though she was the size of a child. I was thinking about how I would teach Hiccup to fly when he came out.

"So, you got any answers?" I asked. Hiccup had told me on the way here that he was looking for a way to stop the transformation. I secretly hoped he wouldn't find one. I didn't want him to lose the ability to speak dragonese and I was looking forward to teaching him to be a dragon.

"Not many. The only thing she knows of that can do it is a kind of dragon called a Bewilderbeast. Know anything about that bud?" A Bewilderbeast? That was going to be hard to find. The only thing I know about them is what my sire told me before I was captured by the queen. They're the biggest kind of dragon there is, bigger than the queen apparently, which is hard to believe. They breathe frost and ice and make their nests out of it. They usually become alpha of their nests which grant them mind control abilities that make the queen look like a dragon that's just good at persuasion. Not to mention they're incredibly rare, even more so than Night Furies.

"Yes. They're bigger than the deaths and makes nests out of ice. More importantly, they're rarer than Night Furies. If one is in the area, it'll be easy to find but it's unlikely that there's one close enough to help you." I said. He thought for moment before speaking again.

"If there is one close by one of the dragons must know something, even if it's just a rumor. I want you to ask them all if they know anything because this is my only chance of resuming my normal life and avoid a potential disaster." He said. It would take time to ask all of the dragons but I would do my best. As much as I liked the idea of a dragon Hiccup I wanted him to be happy and if that meant making that dream impossible, so be it.

"It'll take some time but I'll do it." I replied.

"Thank you bud, it means a lot to me." We were approaching the house now.

When he stepped off my back I said: "I better get going on finding out all I can about whether there is a bewilderbeast nearby."

"Right now? Aren't you sleepy or anything? This can wait until tomorrow, you know." He said. I wasn't sleepy at all, Night Furies can go several days without sleep if they want to, although we prefer doing it on a daily basis.

"No, I'll be fine. Night furies don't need as much sleep as humans and I don't want to spend all of tomorrow interviewing dragons when I could be with you." I said.

"Ok good luck bud." He replied sleepily as I took off into the night sky.

**H **

As I entered the house something was... strange. I couldn't put my finger on it until I got near the kitchen. When I did the wonderful smell of fish almost overwhelmed me. Wait, wonderful? I'd never been particularly fond of the smell of fish but now it smelled... heavenly. At last it clicked. This was part of the transformation! When I thought of it, everything smelled stronger and I could detect smells I had never noticed before. It was a whole new world! I also noticed everything looked better too. Colors were more vivid and darkness was almost nonexistent. Things hidden by darkness I could see now as clear as day. This was great! Maybe becoming a dragon wasn't too bad.

This state of mind continued until I walked up the stairs to my bedroom and looked in the mirror I had made a few years back. My mood dropped like a gronckle when I looked into it. My eyes were green! Well, greener than usual. My eyes looked like small darker versions of Toothless'. It was a good thing we told everyone about me this evening because tomorrow it would be impossible to hide.

As I removed my shirt to go to bed I noticed that the scales had spread all over my chest. There were two black... things erupting from my upper back. I knew those would turn into wings eventually. I also noticed minor things like my fingernails and teeth were as sharp as daggers. I could feel a scale crusted soreness on my lower back. Great, now I'm growing a tail too. Feeling sleepy, I climbed into bed.

"Great, I forgot to extinguish the candle." I said to myself as I noticed that there was still light in the room. But when I looked where the candle was I noticed that I hadn't forgotten to extinguish it. It was just my keen night vision that made the room seem bright. I slept restlessly that night.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN/** Thanks toothlessgolfer for beta reading this chapter. Please review, as always. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

**An Unexpected Gift **

**Chapter Six **

**O **

"So according to you, this plan will get us Hiccup without anyone knowing?" Alvin asked the trembling Outcast. They were in a sort of throne room that was actually just a big cave. The throne that Alvin was sitting on was made out of a rough wood and it didn't look very comfortable. There were banners on the walls that had seen better days and two guards at the entrance. A young man stood before him and it looked like he didn't want to be there at all.

"Yes... oh gr- great and mi- mi- mighty Alvin." He stuttered. He was scared out of his mind.

"Very well. If this works, you'll have earned yourself a promotion. If it doesn't..." Alvin said. He allowed the Outcast's imagination to finish the sentence. Sometimes silence was more powerful than words and this was one of those cases.

"You're dismissed." He said. The young soldier walked away in a brisk pace that he was trying to make as respectful as possible. The effect was almost comical.

"Send a messenger hawk to Mildew, tell him to come here as soon as possible. Send a boat to fetch him." Alvin said. One of the guards walked briskly away to carry out his orders.

"Is the chamber ready for use?" Alvin asked the remaining guard.

"No, but it will be in a couple days." The guard answered.

"Very well. It better work or those Danish torturers will know the meaning of irony." Alvin said. The guard didn't know what irony meant but wasn't anxious to find out so he just nodded politely.

**T **

Asking most of the dragons whether they knew of any Bewilderbeast nest nearby was exhausting. In hindsight it perhaps hadn't been the wisest idea to hold such an inquiry during the night, when most of the dragons were asleep. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but that was probably just because I preferred the night over the day. Just my nature as a Night Fury.

Turns out there had been some sightings of unknown dragons to the southeast. Hiccup was going to be happy to hear that, since it might indicate a Bewilderbeast. I was getting getting hungry at that point, so I decided to head down to the docks to steal some fish. No one would know since it's almost impossible for humans (and most dragons for that matter) to see me in this darkness. Not if I didn't want to be seen. As I flew down to the docks I noticed a lone figure walking to the opposite side of Berk. Judging by his direction it looked like he was coming from one of the farmhouses, the one with the dragon hating villager. He must have been taking a nighttime walk.

Even though I was flying very lazily I was still so fast that I didn't have any time to think about the matter further before I had arrived. I found a barrel of fish that was open at the top and ate only a few of them so that it would not be noticed.

Having sated my hunger, I made my way home. I slid stealthily through the big open window Hiccup had made so that I could come and go more easily and laid down on the stone slab.

Hiccups smell had changed even more as it slowly became more dragon-like. I was starting to like it.

He stirred in his sleep. He had slept restlessly these past days. When he turned so his back was to me I noticed two indentations in the blanket. So he was developing wings now. Perhaps when he takes his first flight he'll stop being so upset about the transformation.

I dreamt that night about flying beside Hiccup on a moonless night, the perfect environment for a Night Fury.

**O **

"You summoned me, Alvin the Treacherous?" Mildew asked.

"Obviously I did. I have conceived a plan to capture Hiccup and it involves you. There are a number of Outcast prisoners on Berk after the plan to kill Hiccup failed, causing us to lose a great number of men and a good portion of our fleet" Alvin said, looking at a human skull mounted on the wall when he said the part about the plan failing. The unfortunate owner of said skull had been the mastermind behind that particular ploy.

"Yes I know about the prisoners. I share a drink with one of the guards occasionally." Mildew said.

"Good. Your job is to wait until a night when Hiccup is separated from his Night Fury. Once he is, you have to release the prisoners silently and tell them where he lives and that they're supposed to capture him without anyone knowing. They must also know that there's a ship waiting for them in Eagle's Inlet for them to escape in. After that just go home and act surprised when they announce that the chief's son is missing." Alvin said.

"Fine, I'll do that. Anything else you wanted to tell me?" Mildew asked.

"No. Have you got anything to report to me?" Alvin asked.

"Why yes. They say that Hiccup is turning into a dragon. Held a meeting about it. I'm skeptical myself, after all, how could a thing like that be possible? I think he may just have contracted some strange disease and they're all jumping to conclusions." Mildew said, rambling slightly at the end.

"Yeah, most likely. Unless you have something else for me, you're dismissed." Alvin said, thinking about something else.

Mildew left quietly, secretly glad to get out of Alvin's presence.

**H **

I awoke that morning finding that I had somehow curled up in a ball in my sleep. Another aspect of my transformation. I uncurled myself and lay on my back staring at the ceiling. Or at least tried to because for some reason it was very uncomfortable to lie like this. Something on my back felt squished. Two somethings. As I sat up and touched my upper back I realized why. Two tiny little wings were attached to it. They were growing extremely fast, since they had only been stubs yesterday.

That was when I realized that Toothless was watching me from his slab.

"Hey bud. Find anything last night?" I asked sleepily.

"Yes, some unknown dragons to the southeast, could be a nest. How are the wings'" He said the first part dismissively, as if how I felt about the wings was much more important.

"Um... I'm not sure. Haven't had them very long." I tried moving them without much luck as I said this. Toothless looked at them attentively as I did.

"Try folding and unfolding them." He commented. So I did and found it much easier to do. Although 'Much easier' was still quite hard. Took me a few seconds to fold them completely.

"Keep practicing. You're using muscles that just grew a few hours ago, so it makes sense that they're so weak." He said after a few cycles of folding and unfolding. I could tell I was improving already, and could move them up and down a tad as well.

"Aside from the wings, I can see that there have been some other changes as well." He said, clearly wanting me to tell him more about them, so I obliged.

"Well, my eyes have changed, as you must have noticed. I have amazing night vision now, no wonder you prefer the night over day! I can also sense colour much better as well. Aside from my eyes, my nose is now much more sensitive, the scales have spread and a tail is starting to form." I replied. He was paying so much attention that he looked like he was drinking in my words.

"Interesting. It looks like the changes are speeding up." He said thoughtfully.

"Anyways, you were talking about some dragons to the southeast?" I asked.

"Yes, apparently quite a few of our dragons have noticed unknown dragons in that direction. As I said it could mean that there's a Bewilderbeast nest there. I didn't manage to ask all of our dragons since some of them were away but that does seem like our best lead." He answered. This sounded promising.

"We'll check it out later today then. In the meantime I have some... er... business to attend to. Can you ask the dragons who weren't here last night about the unknown dragons while I'm gone?" I asked him. He looked at me suspiciously.

"What business?" He asked. Oh boy.

"It's kinda private and since I know you can understand me I want you to stay out of it." I said. Things were a lot simpler when he was just a smart fire-breathing lizard with wings.

"It's about Astrid, isn't it?" He asked. How did he know?

"What? No, no, no this is something... else entirely. I'm going to have a... a...a private talk with dad. Yep, some quality father-son time. Definitely not going to tell Astrid how I feel about her. That would be preposterous!" I said. I never was a good liar. He was giving me an exasperated look now. Great job Hiccup, he knows. As usual.

"Ok, fine. I'm meeting with Astrid. Happy'?" I confessed. The look continued.

"And I'm going to tell her that I love her because I might not be able to with my own voice soon." I said. Shortly after discovering we could talk to each other I realized that I just can't keep secrets from him. Something about his eyes just make me spill.

"Hmph, about time. It's been two years since you two became a couple, if you had been dragons there would have been hatchlings by now. I don't get why humans take so long to court each other, seems inefficient." He said as he opened the large window to get out. What if I found a female Night Fury I liked? Would there be any reason to continue the relationship with Astrid if I find out I can't transform back? No, I mustn't think like that, of course I'll find a way. Even if I didn't what are the chances of finding a female Night Fury? And even if that unlikely scenario were to occur she would probably be more attracted to Toothless since he's better at being a Night Fury.

"Bud, one more question, what's it like to fly?" I asked. I was getting very curious.

"You already know that." He said, almost out the window.

"No, I mean solo-flying, not on someone's back." I responded. He stopped climbing out the window and turned around.

"The feeling is almost indescribable. If it were a word, other than 'flying', it would be freedom. Imagine falling, but you control where you fall to and how fast. You feel the air moving against your body and you know exactly how to use it to do... everything. Whatever I say won't do it justice, so you will just have to wait and find out for yourself." He said, and with that he flew out the window leaving me alone with my thoughts.

**A **

I was sharpening my axe while leaning against Stormfly that morning. Technically I didn't need to sharpen it as much as I did but the activity relaxes me and I've been needing a whole lot of relaxing the past few days.

I was almost done when I saw Hiccup approaching. He looked slightly sleepy which meant he had slept in again. His eyes were weird though, they seemed to shine more than usual and were greener. When he got close enough for me to see some details I discovered why. His eyes were completely different, all green with no white. Just like Toothless's.

"Before you ask, yes, my eyes have changed and yes, I have tiny wings now but can we put all that aside for now because there's something I've been meaning to tell you." Hiccup said, coming to a halt before me.

"What is it?" I said curious.

"I'm saying this now because soon I won't be able to. Astrid, I love you."


End file.
